single flame serenity

It's been a while since I've had a few minutes to sit.  It's that time of the semester when the few minutes of free time are allocated to studying or inadvertent naps.  While I love and am so thankful for all that is my life, I miss the times when I am able to sit and rest.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how busy and tired I've become.  Britt and I have a lot on our plate.  We know that we can't just strip ourselves of our obligations (nor do we desire to), but there definitely are days when we wished we had more time to sit.  We have such a strong desire to just sit that sometimes we'll drive a couple blocks out of the way just to have a few more minutes of serenity in the car.  Or that moment between deciding to get out of bed, or off the couch, or up from the table and when it actually happens.  Our butt seems to lag for just a few moments more to soak in the last bit of "sitting".

I've missed my time of sitting.  So tonight as I should be studying for my Cognitive Psychology midterm, I decided to fore-go the academic responsibility, and take up the mantle of psychological responsibility: the lights are off, the iTunes is closed, and one candle is lit.  It's quiet.

There's something about a candle that has the ability to calm the noise and stress.  The slow flicker of the flame seems to create a new rhythm of time.  The faint shadows cast on the wall shifts our perspective to help us release our distractions.  The soft light seems to shine just enough to illuminate ourselves and the air around us.  It's almost as if air around me has clung to the light of the candle and with each breath I take, my mind and body are slowed to the rhythm of the candle, and less to the stresses outside the light of the flame.

I'm thankful for this small flame.  I'm thankful for the serenity that it brings.  Tomorrow I will have things to do, papers to turn in, tests, work, church, and some time during all that I should eat lunch... but for now those things do not distract me.  Right now, all that matters is the little light that is cast around the room, the rhythmic flicker of the flame, and the serenity that is now aflame within me.

I need to do this more often.